Book page turner for invalids&#39; use



April 30, 1963 G. A. RICE BOOK PAGE TURNER FOR INVALIDS USE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 29, 1961 GORDON A. RICE INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY April 30, 1963 G. A. RICE BOOK PAGE TURNER FOR INVALIDS' USE 3 Sheets Sheet 2 Filed June 29, 1961 GORDON A. RICE IN VEN TOR.

ATTOR N EY April 30, 1963 G. A. RICE 3,087,263

BOOK PAGE TURNER FOR INVALIDS USE Fil ed June 29, 1961 s Sheets-Sheet s GORDON A. RICE INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY $387,268 Patented Apr. 30, 1963 lice 3,087,268 BOOK PAGE TURNER FOR INVALIDS USE Gordon A. Rice, 1134 Broadway 131., Seattle 2, Wash. Filed June 29, 1961, Ser. No. 120,615 2 Claims. (Cl. 40-104) This present invention relates to the general field of page turning devices such as have been used in many fields, for instance for turning the pages of music and of books for public speakers and the like. More particularly, however, this present invention is intended (for the use of invalids, such as persons who are paralyzed or suffering from certain of the dread disease-s sudh as polio and who are capable of very little hand movement or have lost the ability to extend the arms.

There has been an insistent demand for page turning devices that can be used by hospital patients and in the past many attempts have been made to supply this need. Unfortunately, those devices that have been carefully studied are characterized by being very complicated and are often bulky in order to be adaptable to a wide range of book or magazine sizes. Further, many of the page turning devices require placing special tabs on one margin of each of the pages so that the mechanical means employed can definitely engage the desired page and turn it only. Devices of this order, in additionto being expensive also are frequently beyond the physical ability of the patient to operate over any reasonable period. This has led me to devise my present page turner as a humanitarian enterprise.

In order to keep the price well within the range of persons of very limited means and economical enough so that they can be purchased in reasonable quantity for hospitals and rest homes I have limited the page size for which may device is designed to a definite size with only slight variation. By so doing, the page engaging and turning mechanism can be designed to operate with certainty. The current widespread distribution of the socalled paper back books, which now cover a wide field of both fiction and nonfiction, as well as the smaller sized magazines, such as Readers Digest, Coronet 'etc., which are light in weight, are particularly adaptable for the use of invalid-s and therefore has determined the size for which my device has been currently designed, although the device could be readily made for any desired size page.

In all devices of this order it is very desirable that the same be self contained, which entails the use of local batteries which limit the size and power of the motor that can be employed and further, and probably most important, is the need for a remote control switch. Remote, in this case, means merely that the switch operating the device is not directly attached to the book holding rack but is connected to the mechanism by a flexible current conducting cord so that the switch itself can be placed where its very slight touch control will be most convenient for the user, whether he be sitting, lying down or propped at an angle as the switching means provided by this device requires so little movement or energy that practically any invalid can operate it if it is placed in the prop er position.

I therefore have provided in this present invention all the elements required to solve, at least to a marked degree, the reading problem of incapacitated persons and to make their lives more enjoyable.

The principal object of this present invention, therefore is to provide a page turning device that is light in weight and is entirely self contained, with its own local battery operating means.

A further object of this invention is to provide a page turning device that is designed to operate effectively on a page of definite size with only a reasonable latitude of slightly larger or smaller pages that can be accommodated.

A further object of this invention is to provide a page turning device of simple form that can operate for long periods of time without failing to properly engage and turn a page.

A further object of this invention is to provide remote switching means of an order wherein the device can be operated with the application of very little energy to the switch and very slight movement of the switch controlling key or handle.

Further objects, advantages and capabilities will be apparent from the disclosure in the drawings or may be comprehended or are inherent in the device.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a [face View of my page turning device illustrating it as it appears to the person using it.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevation of the device shown in FIGURE 1 and on substantially the same scale.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIGURE 1.

FIGURE 5 is a cross sectional view taken along the line 5-5 of FIGURE 3 and showing certain of the parts in section.

FIGURE 6 is a top plan of the battery shown particularly in FIGURE 3 and shown in the FIGURE 6 on an increased scale.

FIGURE 7 is a front elevation, in which certain parts are not illustrated, showing the initial or pick-up stage of turning a page.

FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 7, but showing the final or completion stage of turning a page.

FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary view showing the page engaging finger and its supporting means.

Referring to the drawings, throughout which like reference characters indicate like parts, the numeral 10 designates the book or magazine rest of this device. As will be noted in FIGURE 3, rest member 10 is secured in a tilted position so that a book or magazine B will normally lie on the rest without additional securing means that might interfere with the free working of the page turning mechanism. The positioning of rest member 10 is achieved by a base 12 and a pair of spaced brace members 14. Both the base and the braces are fixedly secured to the rest 10 and to themselves by a suitable means. The materials of which these members are made is not critical but it is desirable, for the comfort of the user, that the weight be kept to a minimum. At its lower margin, rest 10 is provided with a book supporting ledge 16 which is preferably provided with adjusting means so that its height can be changed to meet, within a narrow range, the change in size of the pages to be turned. One satisfactory means is to provide detents as 18 on the back of shelf 16 and a plurality of vertically spaced openings 20 for the engagement of the detents. A wedge 21 is secured to the face of rest 19 so as to space the pages of the unread portion of the book B from the surface of rest 10 and insure sufiicient clearance so that the page engaging finger, to be explained later, may engage even the last page of a book or magazine.

Disposed for revolution about a central shaft 30 is the page turning disc 32. This disc is preferably made from one of the transparent plastic materials because it is necessary that certain parts of the pages at their upper margin be read through the disc as is indicated in FIG- URE 8. It is also desirable to be able to shift disc 32 on shaft 30 to compensate for the thickness of the book which the device is to serve or to correct the time of engagement of the page to be turned. A convenient means of providing this adjustment is to have a lock screw 34 passing through the hub 36 which is fixedly secured to disc 32. This also provides a convenient form of angular and longitudinal adjustment as is believed to be evident from a study of the accompanying drawings. Disc 32 is driven by electric motor M. Many motors are suitable for this purpose. Normally, however, in order to have a motor using low voltage and low wattage of input which will still turn the relatively large disc 32 against some frictional loading, a reduction geared motor is indicated. In the present showing a commercial motor is employed which will operate from two dry cell batteries as 40 and 41. These batteries are connected in series and are provided with a suitable dielectric bracket 44 having suitable battery terminal conductor cont-acts 46 and 48.

In FIGURE the motor interrupter or stopping means is illustrated. Normally, the current from batteries 40 and 41 flows through a three wire cable 50. One of the wires is connected directly to one of the motor terminals 52 and the other conductor 53 leads to a cam actuated switch 54 and, from switch 54, conductor 53a, which is a continuation in fact of conductor 53, is led to the second input contact 52a of motor M. Switch 54 is a commercial article which is spring biased to open the electric supply circuit. As only one revolution of disc 32 is required for turning a single page, a cam 56 is secured to the output shaft 30 of the motor speed reduction means and turned at the same speed as disc 32. The cam, however, is provided with one flat side 58 so that when one revolution of disc 32 is concluded cam 56 will present its flat side to the switch lever 59 and the current will be interrupted and motor M stopped. To start the motor it is then necessary to depress the key 60 of the remote switch 62. This switch is merely a simple contact switch which controls an electric circuit of so low a voltage and wattage that a light weight construction is acceptable and thus permits a very limited movement of key 60 and requires very little physical energy to operate. Switch 62 is connected by cable 64 to batteries 40 using a two wire circuit and the current is then carried to switch 54 by the three wire conductors 50.

To initiate the turning of a page it is first necessary to have a device that will with certainty engage the margin of only one page and this is provided by the pickup unit indicated generally at 70 in FIGURE 9. This unit consists of a pivoted arm 72 which is rotatably secured to base 74 as by a screw 75. Arm 72 is substantially tangentially positioned with respect to disc 32. The disc is cut at 73 to permit the proper positioning of arm 72 and pick-up finger 76. Base 74 is normally made of plastic so that it can be easily cemented or otherwise secured to the plastic disc 32. Arm 72 is provided with a pick-up finger 76 secured at 77 to arm 72 which is preferably bifurcated at its outer end to accept the pick-up finger. The pick-up finger is preferably made of flexible rubber or plastic so that it can automatically adjust to the page as the angle of attack it presents will determine whether it will pick up just one page, as is required, or several pages. It is for this reason that arm 72 should have a free working pivot at 75 and a rotation limiting stop at 78 to be engaged by the overhanging end of arm 72.

In FIGURE 1, the screws 55 for mounting switch 54 and screws 57 for mounting the motor assembly M on the back of rest are shown. This has been done to definitely indicate the position of these elements.

It is to be noted that disc 32 is provided with a substantially radial slot 80 and the functioning of this slot will probably be best understood from a study of FIG- URES 7 and 8. The pick-up finger 76 is positioned substantially on a prolongation of the leading edge 82 of slot 80 so that the trailing edge 84 of the disc and the material of disc 32 adjacent slot 84], initially underlies the page being turned and works in association with finger 76. As the turning of the page progresses the trailing edge 84 of the slot 80 overlays the page and effects the final flattening out of the page so that it is presented in proper form for reading. The rotation of disc 321s normally stopped by cam 56 substantially 1n the P05111011 shown in FIGURE 1. Consequently a circular segment 86, as indicated in FIGURE 1, overlays the book after the page has been turned and holds the same in readlng position and it is for this reason that it is necessary that the disc 32 be made of transparent material.

It is believed that it will be clearly apparent from the above description and the disclosure in the drawings that the invention comprehends a novel construction of a book page turner for invalids use.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A book page turning device for invalids use, comprising:

(a) a book rest member tilted backward to hold reading matter, having an adjustably positioned book sup porting ledge and a wedge shaped member to raise the pages to be turned above the plane 'of said rest;

(b) a central power driven shaft perpendicular to the plane of said book rest member;

(c) a page turning device adjustably positioned on said power driven shaft, having a disc of transparent material facilitating reading through and above the lower periphery of said disc;

(d) a substantially radial slot in said disc to engage and assist in turning the page;

(a) a page pick-up unit, mounted on the leading edge of said slot and composed of a pivoted arm substantially tangent to said disc with a flexible, arcuate pick-up finger normally disposed substantially on the outward projection of said leading edge of said slot, said finger angularly disposed to engage a single page of the pages to be turned;

(1) the trailing edge of said slot engaging the under side of a page after it is raised by said pick-up finger and smoothing said page as said disc revolves;

(g) said disc having a segment overlaying the reading matter to hold the pages open;

-(h) an electric motor operated on low voltage batteries to drive said disc;

(1') a simple spring biased remote switch to start said motor, said switch requiring little physical effort to operate and (j) a cam device mounted on said power driven shaft for stopping said disc after one complete revolution.

2. A book page turning device to be used with a suitable book rest means, electrical control and power means having a power driven shaft, comprising:

(0) a page turning device adjustably positioned on said power driven shaft, having a disc of transparent material facilitating reading through and above the lower periphery of said disc;

(d) a substantially radial slot in said disc to engage and assist in turning the page;

(e) a page pick-up unit, mounted on the leading edge of said slot and composed of a pivoted arm substantially tangent to said disc with a flexible, arcuate pickup finger normally disposed substantially on-the outward projection of said leading edge of said slot, said finger angularly disposed to engage a single page of the pages to be turned;

(g) said disc having a segment overlaying the reading matter to hold the pages open and (k) the trailing edge of said slot engaging the underside of a page after it is raised by said pick-up finger and Smoothing said page as said disc revolves and the underside becomes the upper side of the turned page.

Carpenter Oct. 17, 1950 Storm et al May 12, 1959 

1. A BOOK PAGE TURNING DEVICE FOR INVALIDS'' USE, COMPRISING: (A) A BOOK REST MEMBER TILTED BACKWARD TO HOLD READING MATTER, HAVING AN ADJUSTABLY POSITIONED BOOK SUPPORTING LEDGE AND A WEDGE SHAPED MEMBER TO RAISE THE PAGES TO BE TURNED ABOVE THE PLANE OF SAID REST; (B) A CENTRAL POWER DRIVEN SHAFT PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF SAID BOOK REST MEMBER; (C) A PAGE TURNING DEVICE ADJUSTABLY POSITIONED ON SAID POWER DRIVEN SHAFT, HAVING A DISC OF TRANSPARENT MATERIAL FACILIATING READING THROUGH AND ABOVE THE LOWER PERIPHERY OF SAID DISC; (D) A SUBSTANTIALLY RADIAL SLOT IN SAID DISC TO ENGAGE AND ASSIST IN TURNING THE PAGE; (E) A PAGE PICK-UP UNIT, MOUNTED ON THE LEADING EDGE OF SAID SLOT AND COMPOSED OF A PIVOTED ARM SUBSTANTIALLY TANGENT TO SAID DISC WITH A FLEXIBLE, ARCUATE PICK-UP FINGER NORMALLY DISPOSED SUBSTANTIALLY ON THE OUTWARD PROJECTION OF SAID LEADING EDGE OF SAID SLOT, 